ArticleBlog | Tumour and prayer: a physical healing testimony
Tumour and prayer: a physical healing testimony
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 12.09.20
Navigating the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic reveals our vulnerability as a tiny virus wreaks havoc from its invisible world. Medics and scientists are our soldiers battling to overcome this new enemy. Prayer rises from lockdown, appealing for help to survive this unprecedented plague. The increased suffering we see and experience surely begs the question – is God still really a healing God? Can this almost biblical-level plague be matched by our biblical miracle-worker?
My personal experience of healing started as a child. When grey hair and patchy white skin started appearing on my seven-year-old self, a myriad of medical tests were launched. The diagnosis of childhood onset vitiligo concerned my parents greatly, so on one occasion I was taken to a church meeting in the hope that the man with the healing ministry could do more than the doctors could! As the vitiligo continued, it appeared to me that neither doctors nor the Lord were able, or necessarily interested, in helping usher in healing. However, roll the clock forward and my understanding and experience was going to be radically transformed. Not in regards to the vitiligo – that only disappeared with make-up and hair dye! What I want to share is a healing far more profound.
Diagnosis
January 6 1999 is a date etched in my memory. It was a cold grey Wednesday and the rain was torrential. A couple of weeks earlier, I had had a routine medical procedure, a lumpectomy in my leg and this Wednesday was results day.
Drenched from the dash across the car park, I sat with my husband in front of the doctor. Words tumbled out from the doctor’s mouth that included ‘sincere sympathy’ ‘utter surprise’ ‘urgent referral’ and ‘secondary tumour.’ I’m not sure the order those phrases came in, but the conclusion landed in our hearts and heads that I was being diagnosed with a secondary terminal tumour. Over the next few weeks further appointments, tests and scans confirmed that although I appeared healthy I was in fact – not! Our one year old daughter was unlikely to grow up to know her mum.
